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Our Background

In the United States, record numbers of adults are incarcerated; more than two million of our children have a parent in prison or jail. Many of these two million children fall victim to failed families and fractured lives.

Oregon also has a growing inmate population, recently exceeding 13,000 prisoners. Of those inmates, 69 percent of women and 57 percent of men have children under the age of 18. That translates to a state with over 20,000 children who have endured the deeply scarring experience of “losing” a parent to the correctional system.

National studies show that the children of incarcerated parents are many times more likely than their peers to someday face imprisonment. It is primary crime prevention and good public policy to help these children and their broken families overcome obstacles and move toward healthy, productive lives.

For many children, involvement in Oregon’s social services system is a direct consequence of their parent’s incarceration; 41 percent of children in foster care have a parent or caregiver who is a convicted felon. At least 20 percent of those serving time in prison were in foster care as children. These children often become increasingly dependent on state services and may progress to offending behavior before they can be stabilized in positive family settings.

Interrupting this intergenerational cycle is a logical and viable strategy for preventing future criminal conduct, as well as a more effective use of state and local resources.

The Children’s Justice Alliance was formed in 2004 to directly address the pressing needs of the children and families whose lives are affected by parental incarceration.

Our Primary Program Partners

Children’s Trust Fund
of Oregon 

A 501(c)3 organization that promotes good parenting and a healthy childhood experience through funding of abuse prevention programs, which provide the tools parents need to become more effective caretakers and role models for their children.

www.ctfo.org

Pathfinders of Oregon 

This organization contracts with the Oregon Department of Corrections to provide programs for inmates including parenting, teambuilding, communications, problem-solving, values clarification, anger, time and stress management, life planning, and cognitive and behavioral skills. Programs incorporate self-assessment tools and a variety of other teaching techniques that actively engage inmates in the learning process and are modeled on social learning theory. Teaching methods engender respect for self and others, as well as allow inmates to experience success and positive reinforcement for responsible behavior.

Oregon Social
Learning Center

A not-for-profit collaborative, multidisciplinary center dedicated to increasing the scientific understanding of social and psychological processes related to healthy development and family functioning. Since 1990, OSLC has been funded by the National Institutes of Mental Health as a Prevention Intervention Research Center dedicated to the study of child conduct problems. 

www.oslc.org

Children’s Relief Nursery

This facility in the St. John’s neighborhood of Portland, Oregon, has been delivering critically needed child abuse and neglect prevention services to high-risk families since January, 2001.   A community-based organization that provides early intervention and family support services, CRN offers crisis care, home visits, parent education and therapeutic classroom.

www.crnnw.org

Criminal Justice Policy Research Institute

The Institute is a multidisciplinary research unit located in the Hatfield School of Government at Portland State University in Oregon and conducts research on criminal justice policy issues.

Trillium Family Services

This organization is dedicated to promoting healthy growth and development for children and adolescents through effective, culturally responsive mental health programs and services that support families and strengthen communities. With four campus locations,

Trillium Family Services is one of Oregon’s largest non-profit providers of mental health programs and services to children 1-18.

www.trilliumfamily.org

Oregon Corrections Enterprises

OCE is a semi-independent state agency for industries and other work programs operating inside Oregon prisons and promotes public safety by providing inmates with meaningful work experience in a self-sustaining organization.

www.oregon.gov/OCE

Oregon Department
of Corrections

The mission of the Oregon Department of Corrections is to promote public safety by holding offenders accoutable for their actions and reducing the risk of future criminal behavior. 

www.oregon.gov/doc

Oregon Department
of Human Services

The Oregon Department of Human Services promotes better outcomes for clients and communities through collaboration, integration and shared responsibility. DHS assists people to become independent, healthy and safe.

www.oregon.gov/DHS